Amazon Deforestation Hits Record Low, But Hidden Fires Burn Forests Scarred in 2015 and 2023

Brazil reported the lowest Amazon deforestation total since records began in 1988, with 3,335 square kilometers cleared from August 2025 through July 2026. That good news comes with a catch. Fire counts have tripled since early October, and NASA researchers say standard satellite fire maps are missing many blazes burning under the canopy or beneath smoke. Near Santarem, they found about 40 percent more fires than official counts showed. Many of the forests burning now are not new targets. The same areas burned during the El Nino events of 2015 and 2023, leaving charred trees that make the forest more flammable. Degradation from fires, logging, and drought now affects roughly 40 percent of the Amazon, and these fires release stored carbon even when deforestation numbers stay low. Brazilian authorities are also investigating whether some fires were set deliberately before the presidential runoff. For anyone tracking carbon markets or climate policy, the takeaway is that deforestation statistics tell only part of the story. A forest that stays standing but burns repeatedly can lose much of its carbon value. Satellite monitoring needs to catch understory fires, or the true damage to the Amazon will keep being undercounted.